Peter King and Mary Letson took top spots in the Excellence Awards at an event staged by the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce last week.
King took the prize for Business person of the Year, and Letson, a contributor to the Undercurrent, took the award for Best Small Business for Positively Fit.
The Chamber acknowledged Positively Fit for feeling less like a gym and more like a spaand for comprehensive fitness services including boxing classes, yoga, Pilates, ½ marathon training, and more. “Their focus is establishing and maintaining wellness for a lifetime. They have hosted many island fundraising events over the years to raise money and awareness for the future Bowen Island Community Hall Arts Centre, Bowen Island Christmas Hamper Fund and the Aaron Sluggett Memorial Scholarship. “ Letson has been running the business for 19 years and has five staff members.
Letson, excited by the award, said “it was an honour to be recognized within a larger business community.” She was also thrilled for Peter King. “Peter’s presentation showed him to be from the salt of the earth, and it showed how much he appreciates his customers. “ Letson adds that King was “passionate and articulate in his presentation.”
Peter King, Business Person of the Year and owner of Bowen Island Community Transit Ltd, won because “has been providing customer-focused transit services on Bowen Island for over 16 years. He knows most customers by name and where they live. His bus charters offer a friendly atmosphere, great drop-off locations, and timed integration with the water taxi and ferry. The Express Bus saves commuters both time and money with their daily commute to and from the Lower Mainland and has established itself as a self-supporting service with no subsidy at reasonable transit fares. He provides a “safe ride home,” monthly outings for Seniors Keeping Young, Bowen Island Garden Club and transportation for school trips. While in the city he has made connections between Bowen merchants and Vancouver retail operations. “
King’s response was one of pride, not just for himself but for all the nominees. “Bowen had a good showing, “he notes. King says that for him, ”the award is recognition of all the weekends he didn’t take off, all the evenings he didn’t have free. It’s a recognition of all the rides that don’t go on the books, the safe ride home at 1 a.m. It’s nice to get recognized.” King was proud to have both his father and his son, Riley, on hand at the event.
Letson says win or lose, the event was great and that the application process for the award was a good opportunity for self-assessment. “When you are in the thick of a business, attending to day to day necessities, you are seldom asked to stand back and look at the business. I had to stop and think about my growth of sales, how I have contributed to the community and to the industry.” Letson says that being competitive, she thoroughly enjoyed the steps involved in the awards application.
Part of what each applicant supplied was a 60 second audio clip describing the business, along with 10-12 photos. “Westvancouver.com put the audio and visuals together into a presentation for each of us and they did a bang-up job.”
Letson says that for her, the award reflects the “amazing trainers and the generous clientele,” she works with. “I am the luckiest business owner in the world.”
For Peter King, with 145 boardings of his bus per day, there’s a lot of people leaving cars at home. “It’s good for the environment,”says King, adding one more accomplishment to his credit. King says he’ll be adding a second express bus in the next couple weeks.
